


In The Dark

by WriterToa



Series: Trolls World Wide [1]
Category: Trolls (2016), Trolls World Tour (2020), Trolls: The Beat Goes On (Cartoon)
Genre: Oneshot, TBGO canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:14:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26050219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterToa/pseuds/WriterToa
Summary: Imprisoned and in the dark, Former King Peppy and the other trolls meet.My ideas of how it might have happened as the movie kind of glossed over this. I have ideas that I might write and turn this into the start point of a series but we will have to see.
Relationships: Queen Essence/King Quincy (Trolls)
Series: Trolls World Wide [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984652
Comments: 4
Kudos: 46





	In The Dark

**Author's Note:**

> SO!
> 
> I started plotting this out on the second day of my families' rent of World Tour. We got it a few days after the release but still, that might give the idea of how long I've been chewing on this.

It was a testament to their experiences that the Pop Trolls, other than a few of them, found being captured again more a bother rather than a horror. The younger trollings didn’t even cry; the most they did was ask about the different music, and where the bathrooms were. The handful that _were_ panicking were surrounded all around by their friends, unintentionally blocking them from outside view. So to the Techno and Classical Trolls, also in the room, the Pop Trolls were oddly calm. They had heard the Rock Trolls order them inside, and once the door was closed, they whispered amongst themselves as they moved away from the door. They added their own lights to the dark room, a couple of trolls getting their hairs alight and settling near a large dark rock. Peppy, former king, and father to Queen Poppy, nervously stroked his beard. He leaned on his cane as he observed the other trolls; noting they were separated into groups of their own, and wondering what was next.

“So those are the different trolls, huh?” asked Ripley, a purple troll with turquoise hair, as she walked up to Peppy, her eyes curious and intrigued. 

Peppy nodded, making his crazy hair bounce. “Yes, and given how they look I believe they are the Classical and Techno trolls.”

“There sure are a lot of them,” the paint covered Harper noted, her inspired hands moving quickly over her sketchbook in the dim light. “Even with some of them flying around, I think Classical has us beat by half. If not more!”

Peppy agreed; it was very plain to see the sheer number of Classical trolls outnumber Pop by more than double, Techno even more. He turned to his tribe while nodding and stroking his mustache. “It's very likely, given...everything.”

“I wonder why they're so quiet?” Ripley wondered next, noting that the only vaguely musical sounds coming from Pop. The sounds were quiet especially for them as the tribe got the message that their music was, well, not _preferred_ so to speak by the Rock Trolls. Better safe than sorry, as Branch would say. “Were they hurt or something?”

“Oh, I hope not!'' gasped out the soft voice of Milton, a sweatered lavender troll who usually could be found with a forest critter. “Although those Rock Trolls did cause a lot of destruction in our village, so it's likely the same happened to them.”

“I’m gonna go ask!” Ripley replied, fearlessly crossing the invisible line in the ground as she did. The other Pop Trolls started to spread out with her, many asking curious questions to the other trolls. Soon their energy spread as the room was filled with slightly echoing voices.

Peppy stayed back, his caution and fear of the unknown trolls warring with what he saw now. When he was a trolling his mother, his only surviving parent as his father had been eaten, had warned him about the other trolls. How different they were and how differences could be dangerous. She had also explained that it was generations since they split up, and the only surviving map could be useless now. Especially with the Bergin taking over the trolls part of the forest for themselves. Curious Peppy had looked up at his mother's face from her lap and asked why none had tried to help them with the Bergen's or even tried to reach out. But Queen Pansy had stopped that idea cold.

_"No! I will tell you what my parents told me as did theirs. No matter what, the Bergen's_ must not _learn there are more of us. We will free ourselves from their clutches or die trying. But if the Bergen's realize that there are other kinds of Trolls, each with their own music and happiness," here she had shuddered so hard if she wasn't sitting down she would have. "They will not stop until they have every last troll. And Trollstice will live on forever. Protect the secret to protect us all."_

Coming out of the memory Peppy found he was reevaluating her warnings. The Rock trolls proved her right on the first point, although it seemed possible not _all_ of the tribes were dangerous. If anything they seemed more uneasy than his own tribe; and they'd panicked the last time he told them the truth. Maybe it set in sooner for Pop, given... _everything_ that happens to them on the daily. He was debating if he should try to talk with the other tribe leaders when the sounds of hundreds of feet and loud grumbles headed their way.

Everyone moved back as the door was opened, the dusty and grumpy Country trolls marching in. There were a _lot_ of them. The last to walk in, stern and dignified, was a lady troll with gorgeous and semi curled red hair. Once the door behind her slammed shut, she huffed and moved through her people, asking if they were alright until she faced the other trolls. A few followed her and stood at her sides.

Peppy didn’t like her expression when she realized who was in the room with them; neither her eye roll or her scoff.

“Of course, just our luck.” she groaned, elbowing a surly looking troll with a TLC-needing green mustache. “More rainbow trolls. Gonna sing about how everything is sunshine and rainbows or did we interrupt?”

The Pop Trolls that heard that looked confused or slightly insulted at her tone. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Ripley asked, her arms crossed, while the rainbow Techno troll she was talking to, King Trollex it turned out, mirrored her tilted head curiously.

“Oh nothing, nothing,” the Country troll said in a strangely kind tone, though the Pop Trolls only now needed a second to realize what it was. Sarcasm. "I'm happier than a cat on a hot tin roof. In Summer." 

“Oh troll, more Branches,” someone quietly groaned behind Peppy, who quickly covered his amused smirk. Future son-in-law or not, Branch would fit right in with the Country Trolls given that comment alone. 

“So, did we interrupt the shindig?” another Country troll asked as she casually brushed off her hat, dust from the desert and ash from outside mixing into a small cloud on the ground. “Surely this is too quiet for _some trolls._ So where's the singin’?”

“Why would we be singing?” asked Keith, a small green trolling, startling several others since they didn’t see him move. He was standing very close to the red headed Country troll and was strangely looking at her and the other with both eyes.

"We had the delight to get a ‘performance’ _,_ from your Queen Poppy and her crew." The redhead explained with a just held back eyeroll. "Not that we asked for one."

"We gave them a chance but we quickly regretted it." Another Country troll added, combing his orange mustache and beard. The tiny trollling blinked slowly at this.

"You need to ask before singing? Wow, we sing whenever we want." 

"That's not what I meant, youngin’." The adult troll said with a head shake. "The point is we usually have a reason for our performances. A good harvest, start of day, send offs, funerals. With how your fellows acted, it seemed like ya'll would sing no matter the trouble. Even if scared or thrown in a hole,"

"We do sing for everything," Keith nodded then put his hands behind his head. "But not all the time."

"Especially when given clear reason not to." Another Pop trolling named Priscilla added as she pushed up her glasses. "Given the treatment of our home and the disdain shown to us even when humming, we deduced that loud singing would be unwise. Or singing at all, to be precise."

"We're used to it." An older adult Pop troll sighed with several others nodding. The Country Trolls looked surprised by this, with the Techno Trolls seeming to at least get it somewhat, and the Classical Trolls somewhere in the middle.

"If I may ask, what _exactly_ did my daughter do?" Peppy asked as he moved closer to the middle of the room; the tribes all seemed to agree to leave room there. He leaned hard on his staff and easily settled into the role of standing-in king. He tried not to worry about his Poppy, and hoped she stayed ahead of the Rock Trolls, wherever she was.

"Only that when your trio of rainbow singers showed up, they immediately tried to change us. Thought we needed to ‘get happy’. Never they mind ever even introducing themselves.” another Country troll said pinching the bridge of her nose, with several of the other Country Trolls muttering in agreement.

Peppy raised an eyebrow. “They sang _‘Who Let the Dogs Out’_ , didn’t they?” he deadpanned and several of the Pop trolls winced at the nods.

“Yikes, that’s one of the big ones; they must have thought you guys were _really_ sad.” Harper spoke, standing by a yellow troll now bandged all over her left arm. The bandages had some paint, but that was a given with Harper helping out.

“Well, whether or not we were or are sad, that don’t give anyone the right to tell us to stop! That is the problem with you _outsiders_ , you never think of others, just yourselves and your weird music.” a blue haired Country Troll sneered. Peppy’s eyes widened in surprise as he latched onto a certain word.

“Outsiders? You’ve met other kinds of Trolls before now?” he asked. Did some already start mingling again?

“What, nah. I meant anyone not from our town.”

“You split up even more?”

The blue haired troll looked like she was about to say something very unkind but the redhead, who had been watching in thought, stomped a hoof. The Country Trolls stopped and stepped back as she moved closer to the center of the room. Peppy stayed where he was and found himself in a staredown with the centauress, as she seemed to be looking for something.

“I think we’ve gone off track here,” she said firmly, deciding that moving on would be the best. Fighting with each other won’t help them out of this mess and Delta was more annoyed at Poppy then angry. “Let’s cover our bases, as I have a feeling everyone is slightly confused. What do ya’ll know about the Strings?”

“Oh, Peppy told us about them a few days ago!” A Pop troll with pale lavender hair and a trolling in her arms spoke up. “The Strings are where our music comes from,”

“Back in the old days everyone lived together, but eventually our differences in music were too much to take,” others jumped in to add.

“So the leaders at the time decided to take their Strings and people away to live in peace.” Peppy ended with a nod, thankful the Pop Trolls didn’t start freaking out again.

“That’s not how we tell it, hun,” Delta said with a head shake. “Not quite anyways.” Suddenly, a trolling with orange twists and blue skin popped out of Delta's hair.

“Ooo is it storytime, Aunt Delta?” she asked, ecstatic. Delta gently smiled, and gave her niece a pat on the head.

“Not really the place, but I’ll give the short of it.” she replied, her niece seemingly cool with that. The trolling hid back in her hair, then popped out to jump to the floor on all fours. Delta looked back up to the Troll Tribes as a whole, hands on her hips. “As far as _our_ story goes, it was more than our differences that brought us to split. It was the actions of one tribe in particular at first, though we don’t know which; each retelling changes a little. That tribe of trolls started to act like they were all that mattered, _especially_ their music. Even wanted to be treated like they were the better trolls. Disharmony spread until it got too much, so everyone left before it came to blows.”

“I am sorry to interject, madam,” this voice was followed by the Classical troll wearing a black coat with gold trim floating to the center, the unspoken place for the leaders. His hair was a little disheveled, but he was feeling a lot better than when they were tossed into the buses. “But I would like to add something to this tale.”

“Go on ahead, sugar.” Delta nodded, with Peppy giving a nod and smile of his own. “An’ the name is Delta, Mayor Delta Dawn.” 

“And I’m Peppy, former king of the Pop Trolls.” he added, realizing he hadn’t said his name yet. The Classical troll dipped a little in the air as he bowed politely, his voluminous hair bouncing lightly.

“My name is Wolfgang Amadeus Trollzart, but my friends just call me Trollzart. To the point, our scrolls say that when the Strings were found, there were trolls given the honor of being their guardians. In return, the Strings shared their power with the world, and music was formed. But over time there were disagreements in how and what their Strings should be used for. This led to an argument with the leaders, and when it risked tragedy, Maestrio Nadia Trollanger led the rest in reclaiming their Strings and leaving for their homelands. Since then, only those trolls of mix music would travel between the peoples.”

“Well, it sure seems like a pattern is appearin’, don’t you think?” Delta said with a thoughtful nod. “The Strings lead to our peoples splitting and we’ve stayed in our lanes ever since, bar a few exceptions. Though it's mighty odd; almost sounds like we’re missing a part of our shared history.”

Peppy _hmmed_ in reply, stroking his mustache in thought. Delta had a point; the differences of their stories were suddenly bringing up more questions than answers. Peppy had kept the story he knew in his heart, but he had never really thought too deeply into it. His mother didn’t tell him stories in parts; she knew more than most trolls that she might not get to finish. His thoughts turning to a painful part of his life, he almost missed the rainbow colored Techno Troll float over. Before doing so, King Trollex had been sitting and listening to Ripley tell him of one of her favorite stunts. She had paused of course when the leaders started talking and glanced at Trollex curiously.

“Don’t look at me, I have no idea what they're talking 'bout--bar that part about our Strings being our music and our job to protect.” he said before she could ask with a shake of his head. “I don’t know why, but I honestly didn’t even know there _were_ other kinds of trolls until the other day.”

“Sounds like everyone has only parts of a bigger story,” Ripley mused with a thoughtful hum and rhythmic tap of her foot. “At least the Strings are more or less the same. I wonder what the Funk Trolls think?”

“Given what's been happening so far, that the differences between our tribes had something to do with the split one way or the other.” Trollex said, shifting until he was standing on his two fins then floating in the air like he was underwater. “I should probably join them, if you don’t mind pressing pause.”

“Nah, it's all good. I’ll tell you about diving off Clutch Your Pearls Falls later.” Ripley winked, and pushed Trollex off to the others with a good natured smile. Trollex joined the other leaders and after introducing himself, repeated his words from before. With two out of the three having stories saying the ancient trolls had to split to protect their Strings, it was starting to make a lot of sense why the Rock trolls had been so rough with everyone before. But why were they after the Strings now? Were they still mad about splitting up _centuries_ later? Why? That was the question that no one in the chamber could figure out. What exactly did _‘one world under Rock_ ’ really mean for the rest of them?

It was some time later, long enough for the trolls in the room to get used to being there and mingle a little (Clampers quickly made friends with the other Trollings and they started playing together where the adults could see them), when they heard noise again. Moving just in time, the Country Trolls parted as the Funk trolls were marched in, several loudly disagreeing with this. The last four to be pushed inside did so with dignity, though right as the door was shut, one of them gave the Rock troll the stink eye and another made a very rude gesture with a hand. The Rock troll seemed to find that funny as they could hear the guffaws as the door slammed and locked shut.

“Really, D?” the blue troll with glitter in her twisted up hair and tinsel in silver going down her neck sighed, exasperated. The troll named D gave her a charming grin.

“They broke my board, ma, I should have done worse.”

“You have another in your room,”

“Uh…”

“ _Really_ , D?” the blue troll repeated, now sounding _very_ exasperated as she waved a finger at him. “You need to take better care of those!”

“I do! Dad wanted to try out my new trick-,”

“Hey now, that was supposed to be a secret!” the other very glittery and tinsel necked Funk troll, this one in gold with a cape to match, cut in with a frown that was clearly fake. The pair started to play fight leaving the fourth one to laugh at their antics. The blue troll rolled her eyes, sighing and shaking her head as she walked away.

“I can’t _believe_ I’m surprised. You troublemakers,” she said, though the fondness in her tone made it clear she wasn’t really upset. Being so tall she was able to see the four standing apart from the rest so she headed there, asking if everything was good with her people. Thankfully, very few were hurt, mostly those who were shoved around. The three behind her followed, joking amongst each other, and hearing it made Peppy softly smile. Then he spotted a very familiar green hat.

“Cooper?!” he gasped and got the attention of said troll who smiled brightly and rushed over to the Pop trolls.

“Heya there King Peppy!” he said, stopping to wave at the others who waved back with smiles and greetings. He turned his attention back to Peppy. “Dang, they got everyone?”

“No; thankfully, some of us hid so at least if the worst comes, they can rebuild. But Cooper, I thought you went with Poppy and Branch and Biggie?”

“Oh, I did _see_ them but I didn’t go _with_ them,” Cooper started, but before he could finish there was a happy shriek from the back of the Pop trolls and Peppy, on instinct, quickly cartwheeled out of the way. Doing so in the nick of time, he missed being steamrolled by a pair of trolls who crashed into Cooper; hugging the near daylights out of him.

“Cooper you're alright! Do you have _any idea_ how scared we were--no note no cupcake message no recordabug--we’ve been worried _sick-_ -what _happened_ \--is that your Destiny hat?” rushed out of a troll with bright red hair in large braids hanging down the side of her head. She was dressed in a blue dress with a star cutout over her gemmed belly button and she had a matching pair of earrings. The other troll was silent but hugged Cooper the hardest before moving back, pulling his wife with him gently. This troll was a dark blue with a simple hairstyle for his green hair plus a matching nose, and as a glitter troll, was bare other than a small scarf wrapped around his neck.

“Sorry Aunty and Uncle, but I _had_ to go. Once I found out there were trolls out there like me, I had to find them. And I did!” Cooper said, turning his long neck to his family who were watching this exchange with curious and affectionate eyes. Cooper kept on talking but the pair realized who these trolls were before he finished the introductions, their eyes going wide with amazement. “I found my family! Aunty Topaz, Uncle Opal, meet the King and Queen of Funk, Queen Essence and King Quincy, and my twin bro Prince D!”

“What?!” was the surprised shout from several listening Pop Trolls but it was quickly followed with happy congratulations. Topaz and Opal were just as happy and they both bowed to the royals with tears in their eyes.

“Oh we’re so happy for you, Cooper!” Topaz squealed and hugged Cooper again, Opal nodding a bit stiffly.

“We’d hoped they were out there somewhere, but you know how dangerous the forest is.” he said quietly, but his voice was clear. Cooper nodded, his twists flopping with the movement.

“Oh believe me, we didn’t know the half of it,” he laughed as his family moved closer. 

“So these are the trolls we should thank for keeping our son safe,” Essence said, her voice as warm as her eyes. Hand over her heart she bowed her head to them and smiled. “Thank you, _thank you_ , we knew he was out there somewhere, but we couldn't find him, no matter where we searched.”

"All we could do was hope that he was safe and happy.” Quincy finished with a nod, placing a hand on Cooper’s head, which sent his son into giggles. Prince D winked and gave Cooper a brotherly shoulder bump.

“Oh it was no trouble at all, we loved Cooper from the moment he landed in front of us,” Topaz replied, blushing at all the thanks with Opal nodding in agreement.

“We would love to catch up, when we’re in better circumstances,” he said with a general hand wave to, well, everything. The dark room lit by troll hair and bioluminescence, five out of six tribes trapped by the sixth, several with injuries and coping the best they could. It wasn’t the best place for such a happy reunion, but that was what they got.

“We’d be delighted,” Quincy agreed and Peppy walked back over, leaning a little more on his cane from the cartwheel. Hey, he could still pull stunts, but he _was_ getting on in his years.

“Cooper, I am very happy for you, and for you as well your majesties,” Peppy added with a nod to them before focusing back on Cooper. “But you said you saw Poppy, was she alright?”

Cooper nodded--though he looked a little worried now. “Yeah, they made it to Funk City with Branch and a Country Toll with a big white hat. But don’t you worry, I sent them off before the Rock Trolls and Barb attacked us, they should be alright.”

“So long as they keep ahead of the Rock Trolls and bounty hunters after them.” D added with a nod. Peppy gasped.

“Bounty hunters? What do bounty hunters have to do with this?”

“From what we heard, Barb sent bounty hunters to track down Queen Poppy and your String.” Essence explained, her words getting mixed reactions from listeners; from Delta huffing angrily (“I knew that troll was shifty,”) and Trollzart looking troubled to Trollex looking confused, with their people having similar reactions. “With ours in her hands, the Pop String is all she needs for her plan, whatever it is she’s truly out to do.”

“Well, she’s not finding it, I’ve hidden the String too well for anyone to find. And I know Poppy wouldn’t give up the String without a fight and a reason.” Peppy said, sounding very sure about that fact. He chose not to react to the skeptical looks he got as he knew they didn’t know Poppy like he did. “But, if she does, does anyone have an idea on what to do?”

“I’d say fight our way out, but given what’s happened so far, I don’t much like our chances.” Delta said, folding her arms with a dark look, not at all happy with how the Rock tribe took out her peoples defenses so well. For all that had been prepared for animal attacks and natural disasters, they’d sadly not planned for a String powered shock wave.

“Barb would keep the Strings nearby at all times, we would not be able to steal them back.” Trollzart pondered with a head shake.

“We might, been done before.” D said and the room went silent. Looking around in surprise and growing realization, D shared a look with his parents, and then Cooper. His brother’s ears were pressing down and he even seemed to shrink down a little, just like last time this was told. “Aw man, no one remembers that?”

“Remember what?” Trollex asked, tilting his head. D looked to his parents again who decided to take over.

“What do you know about the Strings and the split?” Quincy asked and everyone filled the Funk Trolls in, Peppy even remembering he had the old scrapbook in his hair and showed the other leaders when it was his turn. The royal Funk family didn’t seem surprised by what they heard, more like they expected their stories to be this way.

“Yeah, given how Queen Poppy acted when we told her, we had a feeling some parts of history didn’t stick over the years. Didn’t expect it to happen to every tribe though,” D said with a shrug. Topaz looked to Cooper and placed a hand on his back.

“Cooper, what's wrong?” she asked but Cooper, looking uncomfortable, just gave her a weak grin.

“What are you getting at?” Delta asked, sounding like she was getting annoyed but didn’t want to show it.

“What drew the 6 tribes to splitting up wasn’t just a disagreement, it was because of the actions of one tribe in particular. The Pop Trolls.” Essence said firmly, pausing here as she let the shock of this news settle in. It didn’t take long, several Pop Trolls getting understandably offended at the very thought with the rest either too shocked to react or a mixture of both. “Our records tell us that the 6 tribes lived and partied together in harmony, but one day the Pop Trolls stole the Harp that held the Strings. Refusing to give it back, they instead used the Harp and Strings to take the music of the other tribes, changing them to sound more like Pop.”

“No matter how the other leaders tried, they couldn’t get the Pop Trolls to stop. They kept on remixing and auto-tuning and outright claiming the songs of others as their own, no matter what they were. Finally, the leaders of the other five tribes decided there was only one thing left to be done,” Quincy continued, a faint tune playing in the back of the troll's ears.

“They each grabbed a single String,” D picked up and Cooper lifted his head to face Peppy.

“And said, _run_!”

This was not what anyone was expecting to hear. Peppy wanted to deny it, rage against anyone saying his people would ever do something so cruel to another troll, let alone _every_ other tribe of trolls. But something stopped him, locking his jaw as his hands started to shake on his cane. He knew his memory wasn’t what it used to be, but he had held the stories his mother passed down to him like his life depended on it. Did he really forget such an important detail, or did his mother? Did she know and kept it from him, or did his grand trolls do it to her? Was there more to the story or was what the Funk family said the whole of it? Was that why--?

“That would explain some things, looking back.” A straight to the point sort of voice spoke up over the hum of many voices talking at once, followed by its owner moving forward. Glittering bright gold with blue hair and a tie to match, Sky Toronto walked up with his arms folded behind his back, the work wrinkles under his eyes oddly intense in the weak lighting. “If the tribes split thanks to our ancestors, that would explain how we didn’t know of your existence until recently.”

“I’d say it’d explain more than that.” Said another Pop Troll, this one in a doctor's coat and glasses set over wrinkles named Dr. Moonbloom. She was standing with her hands in her pockets with a deadpan look on her face. “Like how it's been decades, and it's taken this long for anyone to reach out to us in any form. Why bother when it's our fault?” here she paused and tilted her head back in thought. “Although that was probably a good thing in the end. Given everything that's happened since then.”

“I don’t know about all that, but one things for sure, the Rock Trolls must have known about that part of the story.” Trollzart said choosing not to ask right then, and there were agreeing mutters all around. “But to go this far, and to say they will create a world of only Rock, I fear this will be worse than last time.”

“What could be worse than separating forever?” Trollex asked quietly to no one, which was good, because no one would have answered. They didn’t get the chance too. Right after he spoke, two things happened. 

First one of the Techno trolls jumped into the air in surprise, letting out “Seaquake!” as the floor under everyone started to shake violently. Trolls of all tribes hit the ground in surprise and there were screams everywhere. Growly Pete snatched up Clampers as the other trollings were grabbed as well by arms and hair. Peppy instantly set into his heroic self, pointing his cane to the seats higher up on the walls surrounding them.

“Everyone to higher ground!” he yelled, the Pop Trolls already on it, with many of them shooting up to the seats with their hair. They helped other trolls when they could--though that is not to say the other tribes needed much help. Not caring to stay separate several Trolls ended up surrounded by a different genre. Soon everyone was up in the seats and could now see that the floor they had been standing on was shifting. 

A large crack opened up on the floor and bright red lava shone from below. The room got hotter very quickly and everyone moved back if they could. Up above them the roof clanked then slowly opened up, giving everyone their first sight of the sky in hours for some-, days for others. The stars were quickly blocked out as steam and smog from the lava cracks filled the air. On the far side a stage rose up from the ground, shaped like a skull with bright red lights lighting it up. In this lighting a large stone troll arm in the ‘Rock On’ pose could be seen and the doors opened letting a mob of Rock trolls in.

While most of the Rock Trolls filled up what the others realised was a huge stadium about ten security trolls rushed up to them. One Rock troll aimed her bass right at Trollex's face and smirked at his clear unease.

“Alright then, everyone to your own kind! Move it or lose it!” she yelled, and with ten guitars and bass instruments that everyone knew were as destructive as their users, there was no fighting this order. By the time the stadium was full, some Rock trolls climbed on rocks or shoulders as music started to play, the other five tribes were organized with their own. 

“Yeeah, now let’s go! Queen Barb has plans for you,” Another Rock troll this one with a bass said gesturing to Delta who now looked worried.

“Now see here,” she started but the Rock troll held up her pick, the threat clear especially with it so close. “Alright alright! No need to get your spurs in a twist.”

She wasn’t the only one forced from their tribe, as the security trolls quickly took the other leaders, stopping Prince D and Cooper from following though they tried. When no one was watching little Clampers bit then jumped out of Growly Pete's arms and disappeared into her aunt's hair. Over in the Classical Trolls spot Trollart comforted his siblings, in Techno Trollex tried the same with his twin. Peppy was struck with dread when he realized no one wanted _him_ and he knew in his heart why. Moving closer to the twin brothers he got their attention.

“Cooper, Prince D, I’m sure they will be fine. On my honor as a troll, I will do whatever I can,” he declared and while D didn’t look too reassured, Cooper seemed to be.

“What can we do?” he asked and Peppy wracked his mind for an idea but he was coming up dry. There were just too many Rock Trolls to fight back and without weapons they’d have to use their own skills. But he was old and as far as he’d seen the Pop Trolls were the main ones who used their hair. Ironically meaning that if they did try to run, Pop might make it out alright, hide and rebuild somewhere deep in the forest. They could bring any other troll that wanted to escape with them, D especially as he'd never want to separate Cooper from his family. Well, what family he might have left if Rock wins, as morbidly dark that could be. Either way he could probably lead the escape. But as much as he loved and wanted to protect his people Peppy wouldn’t do it. As he always said-

“No troll left behind. We’ll think of something, they haven’t won yet, so long as they don’t have all six Strings.” Peppy said and was about to continue but then two Rock Trolls returned. 

“You guys family?” the one with blue spiked hair asked and smirked when the three nodded in surprise.

“Come on, you three get front row seats!” the girl with silver hair laughed and so Former King Peppy, Prince D and Cooper were marched to the front. And from there they were given the best spots in the house to see Queen Barb finish her song, her guitar glowing with six red Strings, and up on top of the stage in a cage was very familiar pink hair. What came next no one could have imagined.


End file.
